The iPhone X is Apple’s most expensive iPhone to date, or at least as far as base models are concerned with the 64GB model priced at $999, way above that of the iPhone 8 whose base model is priced at $699. Now some might argue that Apple could just be greedy and is trying to milk their customers for all their worth.
Given that Apple is still a business at the end of the day, you can’t really fault them for trying to make money, but it seems that despite the iPhone X’s higher price tag, Apple’s profit margins aren’t necessarily higher either. This is according to a report from The Wall Street Journal in which it suggests that the cost to build the iPhone X is actually double that of the previous iPhone.
The report claims that the cost of components for the iPhone X is estimated to be around $581, which is up from the $248 of the iPhone 7, which means that Apple’s profit margins on the iPhone X are actually smaller than that of the iPhone 7. However we should point out that these estimated costs aren’t 100% accurate since Apple could be paying a very different price as they are purchasing in bulk and could command better rates.
Not to mention there are other costs associated with the iPhone that aren’t just its components, like the marketing, R&D, and so on. However it is still an interesting comparison and given the new features and tech used in the iPhone X, it costing more to build doesn’t really come as a complete surprise.